Save Article

Rangers Were Doing Special Ops Before There Was a U.S.

The colonials were counterinsurgency specialists, as militiamen organized to strike Native American forces in their own territory.

May 2, 2017 3:40 p.m. ET

Regarding Ian F.W. Beckett’s April 25 review of Mark Moyar’s “Oppose Any Foe”: American Special Operations go a bit further back than the First Ranger Battalion of 1942. Indeed, they predate the U.S., having been inspired by the “ranging companies” of the New England frontier. Arguably the colonials too were counterinsurgency specialists, as militiamen organized to strike Native American forces in their own territory. Inevitably, they became militarized during the Seven Years’ War, fighting on behalf of the British colonial...